kaleidocat

Yes, that's too true. There should be that moment where you wonder about a new character. There should be foreshadowing. It seems like Katie gets critiqued a lot but I feel like the character has been very thought out so far. I do wish that things like her eating disorder relapse had been carried out longer, but there's always a chance of that returning (lol I mean that in the kindest way possible). It kind of seems to me that from her first introduction, fans wanted her to be the new HBIC. I'm glad that she's not the typical a-personality cut out that we've seen with Paige and Holly J. She can still have that drive to succeed but I think it's more complex than the other two females with an a-personality.

JustMe2000

I kind of like that Marisol is the one who's going to carry out much of whatever Queen Bee type stuff we'll going to see....yet at the same time, she's anything but the dominant one in her relationship with Katie.

Nekoshoujo

So Katie tweeted about babysitting her nephew today. Guess she's actually the middle child? I find that surprising honestly.

JustMe2000

Hmm...so the mind races to a few options:

1. Katie's the standard middle child, with a sibling that since the nephew is 4 (via her tweet), was young when they or their spouse had that kid.
2. Katie's a middle child, but there's a bigger age difference between she and her older sibling. Perhaps as much 10+ years.
3. Katie is the product of a blended or combined family and the nephew is actually a child of a step or half sibling.

Of those, I kind of like the second idea. Perhaps her parents had a kid when they were younger and struggled raising that kid. Then, after getting their act together and waiting a while to have their second kid, which in turn was Katie, who then felt pressure (real or perceived) from her parents to live up to an ideal for her parents that she felt they may not have gotten the first time around.

Oh and I think it would make sense for that sibling to be a brother.

All that said, I can't help but have a hunch that we'll never actually here about the sibling or the nephew on the show and that I just spent way more time thinking about it then the writers ever did or will, especially considering it was probably written by whoever does the twitter stuff to just color in her background more.

But, here's hoping I'm wrong.

kaleidocat

That's interesting news. I'm kind of into the idea of her being the middle sister in a trio of sisters. I think there could be an interesting dynamic there with Katie trying to one up her older sibling. But there is that age gap. That's got me very curious. I'm excited for the Matlin family. This tweet must have a purpose and there's thought going into developing the fam. We must be going to meet Mom and Dad. Not sure we'll ever see the eldest sibling or the nephew though.

Nekoshoujo

^ I'm not sure if we'll see the older sibling but clearly this means the Matlin family will be a focal point of the season. It's refreshing that they seem to be slowly moving into involving the characters' home lives more. Those are the relationships I'm interested in (verses. romantic ones). This also gives me hope that Katie's parents are going to be involved in her storyline which is great because sometimes it feels unrealistic that the Degrassi parents are so oblivious.



I do think it might be interesting if Katie's older sister had her child young. We know that Maya is going to deal with her parents expectations based on Katie's reputation but that doesn't mean that Katie had that experience. Maybe her older sibling was made some bad choices and Katie went out of her way to prove she could be different. It would explain why she puts so much pressure on herself. It also explains why Katie might have had an aversion to dating when she started high school. It could also be a reason Maya doesn't feel like she should have to follow the same path that Katie has even though that might be what her parents want.

JustMe2000

All this good discussion coming off that one little tweet.

And yep, I couldn't agree more about having her parents (and parents, not just one of them) involved in her upcoming story lines. The more of that, the better.

Oh, and speaking of families, that new promo gave us our first Matlin sisters moment.

kaleidocat

More older sister speculation: At first I was really into the competitiveness between sisters and automatically drifted towards wanting Katie trying to break out of feeling invisible as the middle child and outdo an over-achiever sibling. But I'm starting to feel the idea that the oldest Matlin had a child young. That could also suck up a lot of the parents attention.

Basically, I'm really into the idea of sibling rivalry. And the roles that people in a family take on and why. Yes, I too am excited for more focus on families and less on relationships on this show.

Promo? And it's a TeenNicker. Setting to record...does this ever end? Hey, I wonder if there's a chance it will air during tonight's late night Degrassi episode.

JustMe2000

And we all know it's just a matter of time before we see these three words regarding Katie in a posting here, Twitter, Tumblr, etc,...

Karma's a bitch.

And she kind of left herself open to that one, didn't she?

Lady Azura

Okay, so I was... really taken aback by Katie in this episode, and not in a good way. I mean, I expected Marisol to abuse her student council powers, but Katie? And not only that, but she threw Fiona under the bus and THEN had the audacity to still want to be friends with her. It just really rubbed me the wrong way, you know?

That said, I did enjoy her scenes with Maya.

Nekoshoujo

Honestly I think I liked Katie more because of last night. It was humanizing. And I also think it explained a lot about why Katie and Marisol are friends. Do I think what she did was right or will I praise her for it? No. But I think she feels more well rounded now. Especially when you look back at where she started the season and the role she had at the of now or never. Oddly enough pulling what she did last night is a step up from waste of potential

Lady Azura

^ Oh, it's definitely better than being just "Drew's girlfriend" but still...

Nekoshoujo

^ Well not to worry I have a feeling we'll get a more sympathetic side of her next week.

kaleidocat

I rambled/ranted a little bit in the "Underneath It All" episode discussion thread about the good vs. bad angle that the writers seem to have going since Nowhere to Run...but I think that Katie might benefit well from it. I don't think what she was right either, and was a bit surprised by her, but I think it's good her big episode is coming up. It's going to show that she's a very driven girl and at times, whether it be the prank or her upcoming troubles, she wants to overlook it and avoid trouble. Which brings me full circle to my rant in the ep discussion thread; it's so predictable. But maybe Degrassi has always been this way, even in the golden years. I just feel like something is different.

Nekoshoujo

^ I agree, and honestly while character development wasn't always a strength I don't remember this good/bad element being so obvious in past seasons.

I just think everything could be handled better if the writers put a little more effort into it...

Curious to see what version of Katie we get in the next episode. If anything she's becoming slightly unpredictable and at least that's something I can get behind.